Five Lenses for Viewing Patterns of Change (cont’d)
In my last post, I shared three of the lenses I use to observe the patterns (mindset and behaviors) that I pay attention to:
- The importance placed on matching change challenges with the appropriate commitment
- The importance placed on the intent of the change
- The importance placed on sponsors
Now, I’ll continue with the last two lenses: more
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Use Mindset and Behavior Patterns to Your Advantage
(2) Comments
Once you understand that a specific mindset and its associated behaviors can either facilitate or impede success, you have a level of insight that can be truly invaluable to a sponsor who is less familiar with these kinds of change dynamics.
Mindsets are made up of frames of reference (the ways individuals make sense of situations) that lead to the formation of priorities (the relative importance of various options). Shared mindsets within an organization serve as the foundations of culture and ultimately lead to common patterns of behavior.
Successful change requires a specific mindset that is shared among key players as they perform their respective roles. This “success mindset” reflects the more
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Patterns: Order Beneath the Confusion
(1) Comment“What we call chaos is just patterns we haven’t recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can’t decipher. What we can’t understand we call nonsense. What we can’t read we call gibberish.” ~Chuck Palahniuk
How do we make sense out of the often extremely complicated and confusing dynamics that influence the outcomes of our change initiatives? And once we understand what’s going on, how do we help our sponsors (and, of course, agents and targets) grasp what is unfolding and choose the best course of action, given the present circumstances?
We could use simplistic explanations, but those don’t describe the depth of the situation. Too often, we get lost in the convoluted intricacies of the change and offer help that is more baffling than enlightening. Instead, what we must find, more
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How Influential Can a Change Agent Be?
“Our distrust is very expensive.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sponsor-agent relationship is so important that just about everything we can hope to accomplish hinges on it. Without that relationship, our knowledge and skills are underutilized, poorly allocated, or worse, not called on at all.
It’s true that we work with and support the targets of change initiatives. We also work with advocates who want change but don’t have the ability to make it happen on their own, as well as with other internal or external agents. While our relationships with people in these roles are necessary and valuable, our key function is more
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Which Type of Change Agent Are You?
(2) CommentsComing together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. ~Henry Ford
Change Thinking is a growing community of experienced internal and external change agents. We are confident in our skills, but at the same time feel a sense of responsibility to advance both our personal capabilities and the professional field of change facilitation.
We have explored the sponsor and agent roles individually, but I’d like to address how the two relate when functioning as a team. In particular, I want to explore the difference between relationships that are synergistic and productive and those that are less than effective.
As seasoned change practitioners, we wouldn’t have survived long enough to gain deep knowledge and skills if we didn’t have a capacity for establishing and maintaining strong relationships with clients (those we serve, whether inside or outside our own organization). However, many of us are frustrated that we don’t have more access to, respect from, and influence with the sponsors we work with.
There are many facets to a good working relationship with a sponsor. I’d like to examine two in this series—our rapport with the sponsor, and expectations about how we’ll work together. more
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Understanding the Key Roles in Significant Change
(1) CommentI hope you had a chance to read the series I just finished on the characteristics of resilient people and teams. Resilience is crucial for individuals and groups dealing with the stresses of change.
Now I’m going to pick up again with the sponsor-agent relationship, building on two previous series, sponsorship and agents. First, though, more
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Guidelines for Dealing with Top Change Agent Challenges
Whether change agents are internal or external, they often have to operate in an environment where sponsors are less than prepared to perform their role. Here are some guidelines for addressing common challenges agents face when in service to sponsors.
Aim for realization, not installation.
Many sponsors focus on installing critical changes—putting solutions in place—rather than realizing the intended business benefits. Be sure you and your sponsor are clear on whether you are working toward full realization of the initiative’s objectives or some degree of installation with reduced expectations.
Make strong sponsorship your top priority.
Realization of change is impossible without sufficient sponsor commitment and the capacity to follow through with his or her intentions. Successful agents foster the necessary sponsor behaviors to build and maintain three critical elements: more
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Ways Change Agents Can Help Sponsors
As I wrote in my last post, even sponsors with lots of experience leading difficult transitions need the help of skilled change practitioners.
Sponsors are most effective when we help them:
Have a clear definition of the change. Effective sponsors must see the desired state clearly and understand the overall intent.
Recognize and express their dissatisfaction with the present state. Successful sponsors need to be keenly aware that the organization cannot afford to fail at the change; they have to be tenacious about fully realizing the initiative’s objectives and communicate effectively to the organization. more
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How to Spot (and Help) a Good Sponsor
In the last two posts, we’ve examined things about sponsorship that many of us believe to be true. We’re also looking into why we sometimes stray from these axioms when we design interventions and/or interact with sponsors.
In my work, I’ve found that the most effective sponsors display a common set of characteristics. Of course, they’re expressed differently depending on the organization, the circumstances, and the personality of the sponsor, but in general, highly successful sponsors are purposeful, attentive, committed, decisive, and resolute. I’ll break these down into very specific statements and actions. more
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The Geometry of Sponsorship
(1) CommentLet’s continue to explore what we know about sponsorship, and examine why we don’t always act in ways consistent with what we know. In addition to the axioms I talked about in my last post, there are certain relationship dynamics that offer us reliable ways to interpret events and help the sponsor.
The majority of the strategies used to manage the change process depend on certain relationship configurations that exist between sponsors, agents, and targets. The most common among these configurations can be described as Linear, Triangular, or Square in nature. more
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